Ad blocking is back: The once-clunky software that blocked unwanted - for the consumer, that is - banners and pop-ups has evolved significantly. Today's browsers support sophisticated ad-blocking code.

In an uncertain search-engine marketing world, who really knows whether those click-throughs to your site are real leads or fraudulent link-pushers?

It's best known for hits of the '70s - the classic movie "Animal House" and, of course, the magazine - but National Lampoon remains a comedic powerhouse today.

Seems like Ask.com is looking for local flavor. Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp announced late last year that its search engine, Ask.com, is getting a local face-lift called AskCity.

It can be hard to pin people down for poll-taking when they don't sit in front of their computers or near their home phones long enough to answer a few questions.

New information in the ocean of data on phishing indicates that the number of e-mail attacks has doubled in the past two years.

Female-friendly online community iVillage hasn't really marketed itself since its launch nearly 12 years ago, says Linda Boff, who, as chief marketing officer, would know. It hasn't needed to, boasting 16 million visitors a month and a half-million users on its message boards.

Ever try to navigate the Internet without search engines? Of course not: They make Web navigation and, by extension, Web advertising possible.

Woof. Sixty-three percent of U.S. households - that's 69.1 million homes - have at least one pet, and 45 percent of U.S. households own more than one animal, according to statistics compiled by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA).

Like many small-business owners, Matt Griffin, president and CEO of Baker's Edge, excelled in most aspects of running his company, but struggled in one key area - bookkeeping.